Beef and Corn Casserole

I made this beef and corn and black bean casserole, because I had some cooked black beans to use, and because it looked kind of plain with just beef and corn underneath. Even so, my husband sprinkled it liberally with spices, and even my son ate some seasoning salt on it. I don't think I'd make it again, but it was fine once. Quite edible, just not very exciting.

Ingredients:

•  2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 c. corn kernels (I used canned, bc I don't have fresh corn)
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 1 c. bread crumbs
• salt 
• Optional: I added 2 c. cooked black beans and a lot of ground pepper, and, after it was cooked, some Tony Chachery's for seasoning.

 Directions:

Heat oil in large cast iron skillet. Add peppers and onions and cook until onion is translucent.

Add ground beef and cook until pink is gone.

Preheat oven to 350. Add black beans and corn, salt to taste, and heat through.

Pour into a casserole pan. Lay tomato slices over, sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake 25 minutes or until crumbs begin to brown.

Shepherd's Pie

I've only had this once, though my husband says he's eaten it at lots of restaurants. Maybe I just don't like the sound of it, so I've never noticed it on a menu. Anyway, my brother in law made this last year and I liked it. It's kind of like pot pie with mashed potatoes for a crust, which is perfect for anyone who doesn't want to or can't eat gluten.

For this I used:
1 lb. ground lamb
3 c. mashed potatoes (about 4 large, but depends a lot on size of potatoes...doesn't have to be exact, so just guessing is fine)
1 onion, chopped fine
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground lamb (beef works fine, too)
1 tsp. rosemary
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp. flour
3/4 c beef broth
salt & pepper

Add-ins: 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 small zucchini, all chopped fine in food processor.

Steam or Boil potatoes. I used purple potatoes, so my pie was a bit purple. Mash them (about 3 c.) and set aside.

Cook lamb in skillet until pink is gone. Add onions, garlic and rosemary.

Melt butter in skillet or sauce pan. Add flour and cook a few mins. Add beef broth and cook 5 more mins.

Fannie doesn't call for any veggies in this, but I can't in good conscience make a veggie-less dish this time of year. So I added the peppers and zucchini at this point.

Add meat mixture and level it in a baking dish.

Top with mashed potatoes, make checkered pattern on top with fork. Cook in 375 oven for 30-40 minutes.

 This turned out really well. You could easily use ground beef in the absence of lamb. I love this dish, since I don't like pie crust so I usually only eat the inside of pot pie anyway. I would have liked the gravy on this to be a little creamier, so I may use milk next time. But it is still a great dinner, very filling and hearty, and, if you use pastured meat and veggies, very healthy as well. Will definitely be making this one again and again.

Zucchini Italian-Style

My mom has a different edition of Fannie Farmer than I do, so when I'm at her house, I like to peruse her cookbook and see if I can find new recipes. Sometimes, the recipes are altered in my updated edition, and sometimes I find things in my mom's old one that I don't have. I'm not sure if I have this recipe, but I don't remember seeing it. This is in an older edition of The Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

For this, I used:
about 1/2 tbsp. butter
one onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
salt & pepper
cheese for garnish

Melt butter in skillet, cook onion until yellow, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the zucchini and add to onions. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, chop the tomato. Add to pan and cook about 5 minutes.

Pour everything in an oven safe bowl or pan and sprinkle with cheese, salt & pepper.

Bake in 375 oven until browning on top, about 20-25 minutes.

This recipe was sooo good. The cheese was all chewy and melty, and the flavors all went together perfectly. This is supposed to be a side dish, but it was so good I ate it as my dinner, since no one else at home that night likes squash. But I like it. This was super yummy and easy, and I finally found a day when it was cool enough to bake, so I'm glad I made it. Excellent recipe.

Country Style Ham Casserole with Tomatoes

I can't believe it! I made it through an entire month of recipes. I've cooked more than usual, experimented with some new recipes, revisited some old ones, and found some good stuff. My favorite so far is definitely baked peaches.

As you have no doubt noticed, I tend to make recipes according to what I have--whatever vegetables are ready in the garden (hello, cabbage), or a basic food I bought and possibly cooked and now need to find ways to use it up (rice, ham).

Potatoes and onions from my mom's garden.

Speaking of ham, I have one more recipe using the ham I made the other day. I'm telling you, never make a ham for a family of three. Not that anyone else would ever make that mistake!

Anyway, this is a recipe for a casserole, which I wouldn't have made if it hadn't cooled off this week, especially after the baked ham debacle. But since it was cool, I figured it wouldn't be so bad to light the oven.

When it came out of the oven....Not a very pretty dish, but oh so good.

See my hand? Didn't think so.

I cut the recipe some, since I had used some of the ham already. But here's what Fannie says:

Put in a casserole dish 1 slice ham, about 2 lbs/2 inches thick
Cover with 1 1/2 c. sliced potatoes
1 sliced onion
Thyme
2 c. milk

Cover and bake 1 1/2 hrs at 350.

I had some tomatoes, so I threw in a gigantic chopped tomato from our garden and omitted the milk. But otherwise, I stuck close to the recipe, altering the amounts so we wouldn't have too many leftovers, since I'm the only person in my family that eats leftovers. I did cook the potatoes and onions in a steamer for about 5 minutes first, so I didn't have to cook it quite so long. I used fresh thyme and cooked the whole thing for about an hour, uncovered, in a 350 oven.

It looked kind of weird when I took it out of the oven, and not very appealing, to be honest. And since I'd barely put anything in it, I thought it would be plain. But it was actually really good. The tomatoes helped keep the leftover ham moist, and all the flavors blended together perfectly. I ground some black pepper on top, but otherwise, the thyme did the work as far as seasonings, and the ham was salty enough to flavor the whole thing. I would definitely make this again. It was excellent.